03 00AU Runaway Bride
by NewDrWhoFan
Summary: It's "Runaway Bride" with Rose... 10Rose.
1. Introductions

_Post-Doomsday AU with Rose! This is a sequel to my stories, "The Girl in the Stalking Spaceship", "Age of Bronze", "Lantern Extinguished", "Gravity Schmavity", "Love and Monsters", "Show Her, Tell Her", "Ghost of a Chance", and "Doomsday Averted"._

_As yet un-beta'd. You have been warned._

_This story actually has stronger language than I'd normally use, just because it's based on the episode , "Runaway Bride". Fairly mild, but still. That's me!_

_Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Doctor Who. Nor do I get anything from writing these stories-except wonderful, constructive reviews! Wink, wink; nudge, nudge ;)_

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Introductions**

The Doctor pulled away from Rose, still holding her hand, while he looked in disbelief at the woman in white who had suddenly appeared in his TARDIS. "You can't do that - we weren't-we're in flight! That is - that is physically impossible! How did -" he stuttered.

"Tell me where I am," the woman interrupted. "I demand you tell me right now! Where am I?"

"Inside the TARDIS," the Doctor answered, still in a bit of shock at her presence.

"The what?" she asked.

"The TARDIS," he answered.

"The what?" she asked again.

"The TARDIS!" he answered again, turning to the console.

"The what?"

Rose finally intervened, stepping closer to the strange, strange woman. "You're on a ship; it's called the TARDIS."

"That's not even a proper word," the woman countered. "You're just sayin' things."

"It stands for Time an' Rel -" Rose began, but the Doctor cut her off.

"How did you get in here?" he asked, abruptly. He had checked every control and indicator he knew to check, but still couldn't find an explanation for the woman's appearance.

She was not in a very cooperative mood; that much was clear. "Well, obviously, when you kidnapped me!" she answered, backing away from Rose."Who was it? Who's payin' you?" she asked, looking between the Doctor and Rose. "Is it Nerys? Oh, my God, she's finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it."

"Nerys?" asked Rose.

"Who the hell is Nerys?" asked the Doctor in utter confusion.

"Your best friend," was the woman's unhelpful reply.

Something else about the odd situation finally clicked into place. "Hold on, wait a minute," the Doctor said, "what're you dressed like that for?"

"I'm goin' ten pin bowlin'," the woman answered sarcastically. "Why do you think, Dumbo?" she yelled. "I was halfway up the aisle!"

Ah. That would explain the wedding dress. The Doctor turned back to the console to see if there was any possible clue that he might have missed. Meanwhile, the woman continued her rant in full steam

"I've been waitin' all my life for this. I was just seconds away! And then you-I dunno, you drugged me or somethin'!" She moved as the Doctor circled the console, keeping both him and Rose in her sights.

"I haven't done anything!" the Doctor defended.

"Honest," chimed in Rose.

"We're havin' the police on you!" the woman continued, undeterred. "Me and my husband - as soon as he is my husband - we're gonna sue the livin' backside off ya both!"

The Doctor continued his analysis of the TARDIS' readouts, trying with all his might to block out the woman's voice. His efforts were disturbed when Rose called out.

"Doctor!"

He turned to see the would-be bride striding off towards the front doors. "No, wait a minute!" he called, rushing after her and Rose. "Wait a minute! Don't -" but too late.

She had thrown open the doors, and was staring, mouth agape, at the super nova they were orbiting. Rose put a hand on her arm, while the Doctor came to stand at her other side.

"You're in space," he explained carefully. "Outer Space. This is my... spaceship. It's called the 'TARDIS'."

"How am I breathin'?" she asked.

"The TARDIS is protecting us," he answered gently.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose," he answered genially.

"Hello," said Rose with a small wave.

"You?" he asked.

"Donna."

He looked her over. "Human?" He still couldn't guess how she'd gotten on board.

"Yeah. Is that optional?" she asked.

"Well, it is for me," he answered.

Donna looked from the Doctor, to Rose, and back again. "You're aliens," she said, hardly any more surprised.

"Yeah, well, I am. Rose, here, is perfectly, one hundred percent human."

A moment to digest that bit of information, then, "It's freezin' with these doors open," she said at last.

Rose escorted her up the ramp, while the Doctor sprinted straight to the console. "But I don't understand it and I understand everything!" he began, trying to talk things through. "This - this can't happen! There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside. It must be..." He pulled out some instruments and proceeded to examine the woman - Donna - more intensely. "Impossible," he muttered, not getting any helpful readings. "Some sort of subatomic connection? Something in the temporal field? Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the Chronon shell. Maybe something macro-mining your DNA within the interior matrix? Maybe a genetic -"

Donna slapped him.

Rose sniggered.

"What was that for?" the Doctor demanded, ignoring Rose's amusement for the moment.

"Get me," Donna shouted, "to the church!"

"Right! Fine! I don't want you here anyway!" he told her, moving around the console."Where is this wedding?"

"Saint Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System."

"Right! Chiswick!" said the Doctor, with the flick of a switch.

"Hang on," Rose told Donna, just as the TARDIS lurched into action.

Rose edged along the console towards the Doctor, while Donna held on for dear life. As she approached, he whispered, "We are not letting her out of our sight. Until I've found out how on earth she got... off... earth."

"Guess we're goin' to the weddin', then," Rose observed.

* * *

_To be continued._


	2. Runaway

**Chapter 2 - Runaway**

Rose followed Donna down the ramp as soon as the TARDIS landed. Apparently, their destination was slightly off, because Donna stopped as soon as she'd exited.

Donna turned on the Doctor as he followed them out. "I said 'Saint Mary's'. What sort of Martian are you? Where's this?"

Rose whispered to her, "He's not from Mars."

The Doctor turned back to the TARDIS, ignoring the comment, stroking the door in confusion. "Something's wrong with her," he said. "It's like she's... recalibrating," he added, charging back in and up to the console.

Rose watched as Donna noticed the TARDIS' exterior. "Donna? Donna, just take it easy," she said, as she chased the woman around the police box. The Doctor was shouting questions at them from inside, but neither paid him any heed.

"It's - it's -" Donna stammered, coming back around to the doors, and stepping back inside. She quickly withdrew again.

"It's bigger inside, I know," said Rose, trying to comfort her.

"Bigger inside," Donna repeated, breathlessly. She backed away, shaking her head in disbelief.

Rose gently grabbed her shoulders, trying to force her to look at her. "The TARDIS is an amazin' ship," she said. "She just takes some gettin' used to."

Donna pulled away, and started walking down the alley. Rose called, "Doctor, she's off!" as she chased after her. "Donna!" The woman refused to slow down, but Rose caught her up and walked with her. "Donna -"

"Leave me alone. I just wanna get married," she said.

The Doctor ran up beside them. "Donna, come back to the TARDIS," he said.

"No way," she answered. "That box is too... weird."

"It's -" he began, but Rose shook her head at him.

Donna looked at her watch. "Ten past three," she observed. "I'm gonna miss it."

"You can phone them," suggested the Doctor. "Tell them where you are."

"How do I do that?" Donna snapped.

"Here," said Rose, pulling her mobile from her pocket.

Donna took the phone with a reluctant, "Thanks."

Rose watched as Donna tried several numbers without success. Finally she left a message.

"Mum, get off the phone and listen. I'm in -" she glanced around at their surroundings as they emerged onto a main street. "Oh, my God - I dunno where I am! It's... it's a street. And there's WH Smith... but it's definitely Earth. Anyway, I'm gettin' a taxi, and I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye." She handed the phone back to Rose, then ran out to the edge of the street. "Taxi!" she shouted. An empty cab drove by, the driver switching on his light as he passed. "Why's his light on?" Donna asked incredulously.

"There's another one!" shouted the Doctor, trying to catch the attention of the next driver.

"Taxi!" Donna shouted, running after him. "Oi!" she yelled, as the taxi passed them by.

"There's one!" yelled the Doctor, chasing yet another cab.

Rose watched patiently as they flailed about after the taxis.

"Do you have this effect on everyone?" the Doctor asked Donna, catching his breath. "Why aren't they stopping?"

"They think I'm in fancy dress," she answered.

Yet another taxi passed by, the driver honking his horn at them. "Stay off the scotch, darlin'!" he yelled.

"They think I'm drunk," Donna realized.

Two guys in a passing car called out to her, "You're fooling no one, mate!"

"They think I'm in drag!"

"Hang on," said Rose, figuring it was about time to put a stop to the foolishness. She walked out to the street, and let out a shrill whistle, waving a taxi down with a charming smile. "After you," she told Donna as she and the Doctor raced over. Donna, then Rose, then the Doctor piled into the back seat.

"Saint Mary's in Chiswick, just off Hayden Road," Donna instructed the driver as the Doctor closed the door. "It's an emergency, I'm gettin' married! Just... hurry up!"

"You know it'll cost you, sweetheart," the driver replied. "Double rates today."

"Oh, my God!" Donna exclaimed. Turning to Rose, she asked, "Have you got any money?"

Rose dug in her pocket. "Two quid," she replied apologetically.

"Martian?" Donna asked the Doctor.

"Um... no. And you?" the Doctor asked Donna, even as the taxi pulled over to let them out.

Donna got out angrily, on the street side of the taxi, the Doctor and Rose filing out onto the sidewalk.

**"**I'm in my weddin' dress," she yelled at the Doctor as the taxi pulled away. "It doesn't have pockets. Who has pockets? Have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went to my fitting at Chez Alison, the one thing I forgot to say is 'give me _pockets_'!"

"C'mon, watch out," said Rose, pulling Donna out of the street.

"This man you're marrying, what's his name?" the Doctor asked as she joined them on the sidewalk.

All of her earlier ire vanished in an instant. "Lance," Donna answered dreamily.

"Good luck, Lance," he muttered.

Rose swatted his arm. "Rude," she warned.

Donna appeared fed up. "Oi! No stupid Martian is gonna stop me from gettin' married. To hell with you!"

And, she was off.

The Doctor spoke to her retreating back, "I'm - I'm not - I'm not - I'm not from Mars." He sighed. "Rose, stick with her, I'll get money."

"Sure," she said, heading after the bride. "Donna!"

She watched as Donna managed to get some cash from a passerby, then hailed a taxi. "Donna, wait!" she called, running to intercept her. She glanced at the driver, and felt her blood chill. It was one of those feeder-fish robot Father Christmases. "Doctor!" she called over her shoulder. "The santas!" She reached the taxi, just as Donna made to close the door. "Donna, no, not this cab, c'mon!" she pleaded, holding the door open as the taxi began to move.

"I'm gettin' married!" was Donna's only reply as she wrenched the door closed and the taxi pulled away from the curb.

"But the driver -" Rose couldn't keep up, and watched as the taxi sped down the street.

"TARDIS," said the Doctor, having just reached her side. Hand in hand, they raced back to the ship.

* * *

_To be continued._


	3. Confidences and Consternation

_Okay, not quite fluffy, this chapter, but it's certainly set-up for the future :)_

_And, a bit more script deviation, for those of you craving -_ gasp _- originality._

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Confidences and Consternation**

As thrilling as Rose found it to help the Doctor navigate the vortex, she never expected flying the TARDIS through the air would come anywhere close. How wrong she was! After a quick tutorial, which consisted mostly in, "Up or down, forward or back, left or right, got it?" Rose had remained at the console, eyes fixed on the scanner, ears straining for any command. The Doctor, meanwhile, was braced against the open doors, trying to convince Donna to jump from the robot-driven taxi, across the motorway, to the safety of the TARDIS.

Rose was relieved, to say the least, when Donna finally appeared, knocking the Doctor back onto the entry ramp. Sparks had been shooting from the console, and the TARDIS had begun complaining loudly against the strain to her systems. The Doctor called to Rose, "Up, up, and away!" and that's exactly what she did. As soon as he and Donna had regained their feet and shut the doors, the Doctor took over from Rose at the controls, and set them down atop a nearby building.

Rose and Donna evacuated onto the rooftop where they'd landed, as the Doctor dealt with the small flames erupting from the TARDIS' console.

Donna checked her watch, and sighed. "I know everyone told me weddin's were a hassle," she said to Rose as they watched the smoke billowing from the open doors, "but I never imagined this," she laughed half-heartedly.

"Yeah," Rose sympathized. "That's the thing about life, once the Doctor enters into the picture."

"So, what about you two?" Donna asked, as they turned to walk nearer the building's edge. "How'd you end up marryin' a Martian?"

"Oh, we're not - we not married. We're just friends," Rose denied.

"Friends." Donna nodded, apparently unconvinced. "So, back when I first... _interrupted_ you, when he was suckin' your face off, that was just some sort of Martian communal groomin', right?"

"We're _good_ friends," Rose amended with a grin.

Donna smiled. "Bet ya wouldn't turn 'im down if he asked, though," Donna prompted.

Rose's face fell. "He wouldn't ask," she said seriously.

Donna was about to say something, when the Doctor walked up to them.

"The funny thing is, for a spaceship, she doesn't really do that much flying. We'd better give her a couple of hours." He looked at Donna. "You all right?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter," she said with a shrug.

"Did we miss it?" he asked.

"Ye-ah," Donna answered, as if stating the obvious.

"Sorry," said the Doctor.

"It's not your fault," Donna told him.

"Oh! That's a change," said the Doctor brightly.

"Wish we had a time machine," said Donna. Rose looked over at the Doctor uncomfortably. "Then we could go back and get it right."

"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "Yeah, but, even if I did, I couldn't go back in someone's personal timeline."

"Even if," echoed Rose.

"Apparently," observed the Doctor.

Donna didn't question them further. She sat down on the roof's edge, and Rose joined her. The Doctor shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around Donna's bare shoulders before sitting on Donna's other side.

Donna settled the jacket over her arms. "_God_, you're skinny," she told the Doctor. "This wouldn't fit a rat."

Rose chuckled at that, then noticed the Doctor digging in his pants pocket. Her jaw dropped involuntarily when he produced what looked like a gold wedding ring.

"Oh, and you'd better put this on," he told Donna.

"Do you have to rub it in?" Donna asked.

The Doctor explained, "Those creatures can trace you. This is a bio-damper. Should keep you hidden."

Makes sense, thought Rose. But then he took Donna's left hand, and slipped it onto her ring finger.

"With this ring, I thee bio-damp," he told Donna, clearly amused by his own cleverness.

Rose was less than impressed, swallowing past the lump that had formed in her throat at his obviously cavalier attitude towards human marriage.

Donna glance her way, before scathingly telling him, "Mister sensitive, you are."

The Doctor, of course, was clueless.

Rose tuned out most of the conversation that followed (robo-scavengers, Donna temping at HC Clements and meeting Lance, etc.), mentally going over her list of "wants" versus "needs". It usually helped her to see why she should be perfectly content with the status quo regarding her relationship with the Doctor. Unfortunately, lines seemed to be getting blurred recently, and the exercise wasn't as helpful as it normally was.

She came back to herself as the Doctor stood and offered Donna a hand up, before reaching down and offering the same assistance to Rose.

Donna sighed, looking out over the city before turning to follow them into the TARDIS. "Oh, I had this great big reception, all planned. Everyone's gonna be heartbroken."

* * *

_To be continued._


	4. The Doctor Dances

_As requested, a bit of fluff!_

_The chapter title is inspired by **Gilari**'s request for originality. Yes, I've a warped sense of humor._

* * *

**Chapter 4 - The Doctor Dances**

"You had the reception without me."

The Doctor held Rose's hand as they stood behind Donna, all eyes on her as she spoke into the stunned silence.

A man - the Doctor presumed it was Lance from his groom's attire - turned from his dancing partner. "Donna, what happened to ya?" he asked.

"You had the reception _without_ me!" Donna repeated.

No one seemed willing to step into her line of fire, so the Doctor jumped in. "Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose," he announced cheerily.

Donna turned to them. "They had the reception without me!"

"Saw that," said Rose.

**"**Well, it was all paid for," ventured one of the guests, the woman who had been dancing with Lance. "Why not?"

"Thank you, Nerys," spat Donna.

Ah, so that was the infamous Nerys.

An older woman, possibly Donna's mother, approached. "Well, what were we supposed to do?" she asked. "I got your silly little message in the end. 'I'm on earth'? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it?"

Everyone else seemed to take this as their cue to begin laying into Donna with all of their questions and criticisms. The entire room was in an uproar until Donna finally broke down.

She burst into tears, and Lance stepped forward and took her into his arms. The interrogation instantly ceased, to be replaced by applause for the reunited couple. Amidst her emotional trauma, Donna sent a wink towards Rose and the Doctor.

The Doctor swallowed his amusement, and glanced at Rose, seeing her biting her lip hard, trying to do the same.

Someone started up the music again, and the reception resumed as if without interruption.

The Doctor led Rose toward the bar, where they could have a little space to themselves. "Alright, step one complete," he told her, as they leaned against the bar watching the dancers. "Donna's back with her hubby-to-be. Now, how did she disappear in the first place?"

"You said the robo-scavenger-things could track her biology, right?" asked Rose, arm linked with his, her head leaning on his shoulder.

"Mm-hm," confirmed the Doctor.

"Well, maybe it's somethin' about her biology that did it," she suggested.

"Maybe," said the Doctor, thinking things over. He hadn't detected anything unusual with his scans, but what if it was something so unusual that he hadn't thought to look for it? If that were the case, it shouldn't be genetic. More likely it was something artificially introduced into her physiology. How? Where? "Can I see your mobile?" he asked Rose.

She pulled it from her pocket and handed it to him.

He ran a search for "H. C. Clements," on her super-phone, and was only half surprised at the results. He handed the phone back to Rose, showing her the display.

"Torchwood," she read. "Explains a bit."

"Yeah," said the Doctor, looking up to make sure Donna was still in sight on the dance floor. She and Lance had moved to the far side of the room, so the Doctor turned to Rose. "Care to dance?" he asked.

Rose smirked at him. "Do you dance?"

The Doctor sighed. "I thought we'd established that already," he told her, a bit impatiently.

"Not with this you," she answered.

His only reply was to raise his eyebrow.

"Alright," she said, holding out her hand, "show me your moves."

It wasn't hard to keep Donna in view once they'd joined the fray, so the Doctor was free to focus on Rose as they danced. He thought back an hour or so ago, to the incident on the rooftop. He'd pulled the ring-shaped bio-damper from his stash of the handy objects, thinking it would be appropriate for a woman in a wedding dress. However, despite his oblivious act, he hadn't missed Rose's initial reation to the object, nor Donna's comment when he'd slipped it onto her finger. Had they been talking about weddings? Engagements? Perfectly reasonable considering the circumstances, but whose?

Had Rose said something to Donna about their situation? Had she said something about her thoughts on marriage?

Here he was, still carrying around a ring - a real ring - in his breast pocket, itching to give it to Rose, but still putting it off. He'd never been one for bravery, not when worlds weren't at stake. And it probably had been a bit tactless to give a ring to Donna like that, given her circumstances. But then, he'd never been one for tact, either, even at his best. He wished he could give his ring to Rose, and find out just what she wanted from him beyond never leaving and never being left behind.

But it was too soon, he told himself. She'd just lost her Mum, and it was entirely his fault. Not to mention the fact that before they were separated, he'd sent Rose away himself. Again.

The music had slowed a bit, so that Rose was resting her head against his chest as they danced. He shifted his grip, letting his arms move around her waist, hers coming up naturally to encircle his neck. This dancing thing was quite nice, if he did say so himself.

The Doctor was ever so rudely brought out of his musings when a rather clumsy couple bumped into him from behind. It was fairly obvious to the Doctor that they'd been availing themselves of the open bar. Rose looked up, but didn't bother disentangling herself from him.

The couple only laughed, as the man, with the woman's encouragement, held a bushy piece of plant up over the Doctor's and Rose's heads.

Mistletoe.

"C'mon, kiss her!" the man demanded.

"What for?" the Doctor asked, knowing the custom full well.

"It's tradition," the woman insisted.

"Really?" the Doctor asked Rose, feigning complete ignorance.

To his delight, she was smiling. "Yeah, sorta is," she told him.

"I'm supposed to kiss her?" he asked the tipsy couple.

"Ye-ah," the woman drawled. "Don't wait all night, either!"

So, he did.

The couple moved off once he'd complied, but the Doctor really didn't care to notice. Rather than the peck on the lips he'd half intended to give her, he realized he was snogging Rose on the Dance floor. When was the last time he'd kissed her like this? Too long ago, he thought. Donna'd interrupted them when she'd first appeared, and before that . . . he hadn't kissed her since before they'd visited Jackie. Well, a quick kiss after he'd pinpointed the ghosts' origin, but -

"Oi, mate!"

They'd stumbled off the edge of the dance floor, straight into the cameraman.

"Sorry!" Rose and the Doctor said at once, pulling apart in order to regain their balance.

In the midst of the Rose-induced haze that had filled his mind, along with his embarrassment at having so badly lost his bearings as a result of said haze, a thought occurred to the Doctor. Halfway up the aisle, she'd said.

"You weren't taping the wedding, too, by any chance?" he asked.

* * *

_To be continued._


	5. The Christmas Invasion

**Chapter 5 - The Christmas Invasion**

It was chaos.

Not that Rose wasn't used to chaos, but the word still had its uses. And it pretty much covered their current situation.

One moment, she'd been in the Doctor's arms on the dance floor, getting rather thoroughly snogged, the next moment the Doctor was watching Donna's wedding video, muttering about Huon somethings-or-other - Rose didn't catch much except that they were so old that the stupid wedding ring bio-damper didn't even work - and the next moment, they were dodging murderous Christmas tree baubles, trying, once again, to escape from the robo-scavenger santas.

Fortunately, the robots couldn't stand up to the combination of the sonic screwdriver and the DJ's sound equipment, and were quickly reduced to mechanical rubble.

The Doctor, searching through the debris, came away with the remote control the robots had used for the decorations, as well as a helmet, containing a second remote for the robots themselves. "There's still a signal!" he announced, taking off out of the building, leaving the destroyed reception behind him.

Rose followed him out, Donna joining them shortly thereafter.

The Doctor stood outside, examining the robot's head with his sonic screwdriver. "There's someone behind this, directing the robo-forms," he muttered.

"But why is it me?" begged Donna. "What have I done?"

"If we find the controller, we'll find that out. Oh..." He raised the sonic into the air.

"It's on a ship?" asked Rose.

"There's something up there," he answered, "Something in the sky -" he trailed off as he wandered across the parking lot.

Rose followed. "It's not the Sycorax," she suggested. "I mean, they were here the last time, with the robots, but they were destroyed, right?"

"Right," the Doctor murmured. "No, I think it's something else, but what?" He brought the screwdriver down, tapping it a few times, then raised it again, trying to get a lock. "No good, come on," he said, bringing her back to Donna and Lance. He managed to get Lance to give them a lift to H. C. Clements.

As they piled into Lance's car, Rose leaned over to whisper in the Doctor's ear, "And why aren't we takin' the TARDIS?"

"Because," he replied, just as quietly, "Torchwood is mixed up in this. They might have been destroyed, but whoever is behind it now is working with Huon particles, and I'd rather they not get their hands on something as powerful as the TARDIS."

"Right," said Rose, sitting back. "Back on the motorway it is."

They reached the offices, and began searching through the computers for a clue. The Doctor detailed his pencil-in-a-mug theory, explaining to Donna how she'd been pulled into the TARDIS thanks to the Huon particles with which she'd been dosed. Then, they discovered the hidden floor - or, rather, the lack of the lower basement - on the official plans.

The four of them descended in the lift, exiting onto a long, dark, rather dank corridor. They followed it to a door marked "Torchwood - authorised personnel only", and discovered that the secret base - or whatever it was - was actually right beneath the Thames Flood barrier.

A little further along the corridor, and they came to what looked like some kind of laboratory, full of massive test tubes bubbling away and all sorts of chemistry equipment.

"Kid in a candy store," Rose stage whispered to Donna, smiling, as the Doctor ran around the room excitedly.

**"**What does it do?" Donna asked, looking at all of the equipment.

"Particle extrusion," he muttered. "Hold on." They all followed as the Doctor darted over to tap on one of the bubbling tubes, examining it. "Brilliant," he whispered. "They've been _manufacturing_ Huon particles," he told them at last. "'Cause, my people got rid of Huons, they unravel the atomic structure."

And Donna was dosed with them? Rose thought.

"Your people?" asked Lance. "Who are they? What company do you represent?"

"Oh, I'm a freelancer," answered the Doctor. "But this lot are rebuilding them," he continued. "They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result -" he pulled a small container from the base of one of the large tubes, "Huon particles in liquid form."

Donna moved to take a closer look, Rose sticking close, moving beside the Doctor.

"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked. In answer, the Doctor turned a knob on the container, making both the contents and Donna glow. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, seeing herself.

"Brilliant," the Doctor muttered again, staring in wonder at the container in his hands. "Because the particles are inert," he began to explain, "they need something living to catalyze inside, and that's you," he told Donna. "Saturate the body and then - HA!" he exclaimed, causing the rest of them to jump, then continuing at a million miles a minute. "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's _it!_ Best day of your life, walking down the aisle. Oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"

_SLAP!_

Donna's hand connected with the Doctor's face, spinning him right around to face Rose.

Rose had successfully stopped her laughter, but knew her smile was probably obvious behind her hand.

"What?" the Doctor asked her, seemingly more indignant at Rose's amusement than Donna's battery "Are you enjoying this?"

Fortunately, Rose was saved from any explanations by Donna pulling him back to reality. "Are _you_ enjoyin' this?" she demanded angrily.

He turned back to her, immediately sobered.

"Right, just tell me," Donna said, obviously trying to keep her voice steady, "these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"

"Yes!" he said, but Rose wasn't convinced in the least, and neither, it seemed, was Donna.

Rose walked over to her, holding her hand as she asked again. "Doctor, if your lot got rid of Huon particles . . . why did they do that?"

"Because they were deadly," he answered.

"Oh, my God," she said weakly, sagging slightly, so that Rose put her arm around her.

"We can help, Donna," she told her. "Can't we, Doctor?"

"We will. I'll sort it out, Donna," he promised. "Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. We're not about to lose you."

_"_Oh, she is long since lost!" a strange voice echoed throughout the laboratory.

Rose watched as one of the room's walls slid upwards, revealing an adjoining room with an enormous hole dug in the floor.

The bodiless voice sounded again "I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe, until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose noticed Lance dart out of the laboratory. But her attention was diverted when she noticed the robo-scavengers lining the walls, armed with some sort of guns, and cloaked in black.

The Doctor seemed unimpressed, strolling up to the edge of the hole. "Someone's been digging... oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?" he asked.

The voice replied, "Down and down, all the way to the center of the earth!"

"Really?" he asked. "Seriously? What for?"

"Dinosaurs," Donna volunteered.

"What?" Rose and the Doctor asked.

"Dinosaurs?"

"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" asked the Doctor.

"Oh," said Rose, "that film, what was it?" she asked Donna.

"_Under the Earth, _with dinosaurs," said Donna.

"Yeah, _Under the Earth_, or _Center of the Earth_, or something like that," Rose said, linking arms with the Doctor. "They went down a volcano and found this whole world -"

"That's not helping," the Doctor told her, with a condescending pat on the head.

"Such a sweet couple," the voice commented.

"Only a madman talks to thin air," the Doctor answered, "and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?"

"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas Night."

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!" he demanded.

"Who are you with such command?" the voice asked.

"I'm the Doctor."

Rose smiled. There was just something about the way he proclaimed his title sometimes...

"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man," the voice replied, "for you will be sick at heart."

A light, which Rose assumed must have been a teleport, filled the formerly hidden chamber, and a huge, red, spider-like alien appeared, flailing and hissing at them.

"The Racnoss," the Doctor muttered, "but that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"

"_Empress_ of the Racnoss," she informed them proudly.

* * *

_To be continued._


	6. Revelations

Chapter 6, Revelations

"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss?" the Doctor asked the spider queen thing. "Or . . . are you the only one?"

"Such a sharp mind," she answered.

"That's it, the last of your kind." Rose recognized just the faintest trace of empathy in his voice. He turned to her and Donna, explaining. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago; billions. They were carnivores--omnivores; they devoured whole planets."

"Like, the whole planet, or just everything on it?" Rose asked.

"Every living thing," said the Doctor.

"Racnoss are born starving," the Empress defended, "is that our fault?"

"They eat people?" asked Donna in disbelief.

The Doctor asked her, "H. C. Clements, did he wear those—those, erm, black and white shoes?"

"He did!" Donna smiled. "We used to laugh; we used to call him 'the fat cat in spats'."

The Doctor pointed to a web on the ceiling above the Racnoss, where a pair of black and white shoes were just visible--still attached to their presumably dead owner.

"Oh, no," breathed Rose.

"Oh, my God!" exclaimed Donna.

"Mm, my Christmas dinner," the Empress cackled.

The Doctor turned back to her. "You shouldn't even exist! Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss." Rose noticed Lance sneak through a doorway behind the Racnoss as the Doctor spoke. He'd grabbed an axe, and motioned for them to stay quiet. "They were wiped out," the Doctor continued.

"Except for me," the Empress answered proudly.

Donna spoke up. "But what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing," from her tone of voice, Rose was sure she'd seen Lance, too, and was doing her best to keep the Racnoss distracted. "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?"

Lance was getting closer, axe at the ready. "Yeah!" chimed in Rose. "If you've been hiding, or hibernating, or whatever for billions of years, why do this to Donna, now?"

"Exact--look at me, you!" Donna yelled, as the Racnoss almost turned towards Lance. "Look me in the eye and tell me."

"The bride is so feisty!" the Racnoss observed.

**"**Yes, I am!" Donna continued. "And I don't know what you are, you big . . . _thing_. But a spider's just a spider, and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"

Rose held her breath as Lance made to swing the axe, the Empress turning towards him at the last moment. He froze, then started to laugh, the Empress joining with him in her scratchy, raspy voice.

"That was a good one," he told the Empress. "Your face!" he laughed.

"Lance is funny," the Racnoss told the trio of onlookers.

"What?" Donna asked, utterly confused.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor told her quietly.

"Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!" she persisted.

"God, she's thick," Lance said.

Rose moved closer to her. "Donna--"

"Months I had to put up with her," Lance went on, apparently relieved to get things off his chest. "Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."

"I don't understand." Donna shook her head.

"How did you meet him?" the Doctor asked her.

"In the office."

"He made you coffee," Rose said, softly.

**"**What?" Donna still didn't get it, or didn't want to get the implications.

Lance explained, his voice dripping with disdain. "Every day, I made you coffee."

"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months," the Doctor explained.

"He was poisoning me?" Donna asked at last.

"It was all there in the job title: the Head of Human Resources," said the Doctor.

"This time, it's personnel," joked Lance, throwing the Racnoss into another fit of hideous laughter.

"But . . . we were getting married," objected Donna.

"Well, I couldn't risk you running off," said Lance. "I _had _to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavor Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap, yap, yap. 'Oh, Brad and Angelina. Is Posh pregnant?' X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, 'text me, text me, text me'. Dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal."

Rose took Donna's hand, trying to give her some small measure of comfort.

"Oh, is that what she's offered you?" the Doctor asked Lance, "the Empress of the Racnoss--what are you? Her consort?

"It's better than a night with _her_," Lance answered, indicating Donna.

"But I love you," said Donna, sincerely.

"That's what made it easy," answered Lance, nastily. "You've gotta think of the big picture," he told her. "What's the point of it all, if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to . . . go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"

"Who is this little physician?" the Empress asked Lance.

"What she said . . . Martian," Lance answered her.

"Oh, I'm sort of . . . homeless," the Doctor evaded. "But the point is, what's down here?" he moved nearer the tunnel. "The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you, four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?" he asked, obviously trying to get the Racnoss to talk.

"I think he wants us to talk," Lance said to the Empress.

"I think so, too," she replied.

"Well, tough!" shouted Lance, full of confidence. "All we need is Donna!"

"Kill this chattering little doctor-man!" the Empress ordered her robot slaves.

"Don't you hurt him!" shouted Donna, pulling free from Rose and standing in front of the Doctor.

"No, no, it's alright," the Doctor said, trying to move her out of the way.

Donna refused. "No, I won't let them!"

"At arms!" the Empress ordered, all the robots raising their guns.

"Doctor?" asked Rose, sincerely hoping he had a way out of this.

"Ah, now. Except--" said the Doctor.

"Take aim!" the Empress continued, paying him no heed.

"Well, I just want to point out the obvious--" he tried.

"They won't hit the bride," the Racnoss sneered. "They're such very good shots."

"Just--just--just--hold on, just a tick, just a tiny--just a little--tick." the Doctor said, reaching out to pull Rose closer, and retrieving the container of Huon particles. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it," he tweaked the tube of particles, "the spaceship comes to her."

Rose saw the particles in the container and in Donna begin to glow, and suddenly, the TARDIS was materializing around them.

"Fire!" cried the Empress, but too late. They were safe.

"Off we go!" cried the Doctor, darting over to the console and sending them into the vortex. "Oh," he said to Donna, "you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're gonna use it."

Donna was quickly losing her composure, now that they weren't about to be shot. Rose helped her over to the captain's chair while the Doctor set the controls for their destination.

"We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up," the Doctor continued, oblivious as he worked. "If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. _Molto bene_! I've always wanted to see this. Rose, we're going further back than we've ever--"

"Doctor," Rose interrupted him. He finally looked up, and saw Donna, now shuddering, tears silently pouring down her cheeks.

He was silent for the rest of their journey.

--

"We've arrived," the Doctor said hesitantly. "Want to see?"

Rose waited for Donna.

"I s'pose," she said.

The Doctor swung the scanner around, but then seemed to change his mind. "Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best," he told her, going to the doors. "Come on," he invited.

Rose followed Donna down the ramp, a steadying hand on her arm.

"No human's ever seen this," the Doctor told them. "You two'll be the first."

"All I want to see is my bed," Donna replied unenthusiastically.

Ignoring the comment, the Doctor announced, "Rose Tyler, Donna Noble--welcome to the creation of the earth."

He opened the doors, revealing quite a spectacular sight. Beautifully colored dust and gas clouds swirled around a star; huge rocks floated past them through space.

"We've gone back 4.6 billion years," he explained. "There's no Solar System, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas." He pointed to the star. "That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."

"It's gorgeous," said Rose.

"Where's the earth?" asked Donna.

"All around us . . . in the dust," the Doctor answered.

"Puts the weddin' in perspective," Donna replied. "Lance was right. We're just . . . _tiny_."

"No, but that's what you do," explained the Doctor, taking Rose's hand as he moved closer. "The Human Race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

"So, I came out of all this?" Donna asked.

"Isn't that brilliant?" the Doctor replied.

Rose watched as a massive chunk of rock floated lazily past the TARDIS.

Donna pointed at it. "I think that's the Isle of Wight," she joked.

They all laughed at that.

The Doctor continued to explain, "Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the . . . ?"

"Earth," Donna and Rose answered.

**"**But the question is," the Doctor said, almost to himself, "what was that first rock?"

"Look," said Donna, as a star-shaped ship passed into view.

"The Racnoss," the Doctor whispered. He rushed back to the console, frantically working and checking readouts. "Hold on," he said, "the Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?" he asked.

"Exactly what you said," Rose told him, watching as the neighboring rocks and particles were pulled towards the Racnoss ship.

He came running back to the doors to watch. "Oh, they didn't just _bury _something at the center of the Earth . . . they _became _the center of the Earth," he said in awe. "The first rock."

"The 'secret heart', right?" ventured Rose. "Just like the Racnoss said--"

The TARDIS lurched suddenly, nearly knocking them off their feet.

"What was that?" demanded Donna.

"Trouble!" the Doctor answered, slamming the doors shut.

--

To be continued.

Two more chapters to go :)


	7. Repercussions

Chapter 7, Repercussions

The TARDIS continued its spontaneous journey through the vortex, throwing its occupants every which way in the console room.

"What the hell's it doin'?" shouted Donna.

_"_Remember that little trick I pulled?" asked the Doctor, desperately trying to regain some control over their flight while keeping an eye on both Rose and Donna, "particles pulling particles? It works in reverse--they're pulling us back!"

Donna wasn't having any of it. "Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or somethin'?"

"Backseat driver," muttered the Doctor, remembering why he usually liked to invite companions himself. "Oh! Wait a minute!" He reached under the console and pulled out a little gift from the Slitheen.

"The extrapolator!" said Rose, recognizing it.

"Can't stop us," said the Doctor, making the necessary connections to the TARDIS' systems, "but it should give us a good bump!" Just as the TARDIS was about to materialize, he activated it. "Now!"

Another final lurch, and the TARDIS stilled. The Doctor immediately led the way out of the doors, into the corridor outside of the laboratory.

"We're about 200 yards to the right," he said. "Come on!" He led Rose and Donna to the door up to the flood barrier, and began searching through his pockets, handing Rose various objects--the sonic screwdriver, the robot's remote, a yo-yo--finally coming up with a stethoscope.

"But what are we gonna do?" asked Donna.

"I don't know!" he answered, listening with the stethoscope to the door. "I make it up as I go along!"

"I'll say," laughed Rose at his side.

"But trust me," he continued, "I've got a history."

"But I still don't understand," persisted Donna, pacing the corridor behind them. "I'm full of particles, but what for?"

**"**There's a Racnoss web at the center of the earth, but my people unraveled their power source," he explained, still examining the door. "The Huon particles ceased to exist, and the Racnoss are stuck. They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet."

He and Rose turned to find the corridor empty.

"Donna!" shouted Rose, but no response.

With a frustrated groan, the Doctor turned back to Rose. "Sonic?" he requested, and she handed him the screwdriver. He unlocked the door, swinging it open to reveal an armed robot.

He and Rose jumped back. "Remote!" he shouted as the robot raised its weapon, and she pressed the object into his hands. Sonic'ing the remote, he managed to disable the robot just in the nick of time.

The Doctor squatted down to see what could be made of the robot. Wrenching the faceplate free and unwrapping the cloak, he thought he could whip up a fairly decent disguise for the two of them.

--

The Doctor and Rose crept back into the Racnoss' chamber, the Doctor wearing the robot's faceplate as a mask, and Rose shuffling awkwardly behind him, both concealed beneath the cloak. If the circumstances weren't so desperate, he might have enjoyed her arms wrapped around him--oh, who was he trying to fool? He enjoyed it anyway.

Donna and Lance were both trapped in the Empress' web, and, it seemed, begging for their lives.

"Use her!" pleaded Lance. "Not me! Use her!"

"Oh, my funny little Lance!" the Racnoss replied. "But you are quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve!"

She slashed at the web around Lance, and he tumbled down the hole toward the awakened Racnoss below.

"Laaaaaance!" screamed Donna after him.

Rose and the Doctor moved closer, climbing the steps to one of the landings along the chamber wall.

"My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!" proclaimed the Empress. With a hiss, she turned towards the concealed couple. "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man."

"Oh well," said Rose from behind him as he removed the cloak and mask.

"Nice try, though," said the Doctor. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, aiming it at Donna. "I've got you, Donna!" he called, loosening the web around her.

"I'm gonna fall!" Donna screeched at him.

"You're gonna swing!" he corrected. All according to plan, the webs came free and she swung in an arc toward him, on one last, long strand. "I've got ya!" he told her, arms outstretched at the edge of the landing.

Unfortunately, it seemed he hadn't quite accounted for the stretch of the web, and Donna swung, screaming, right into the wall beneath them.

"Oh. Sorry," he said, looking down at her, sprawled out on her back on the floor below.

"Thanks for nothin'," she managed.

"I'll get her," Rose told him, already headed down the stairs.

The Empress smirked. "The doctor-man amuses me," she rasped.

Time to end this, thought the Doctor. "Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now," he declared.

"These men are so funny," she replied.

"What's your answer?" he demanded.

"Oh--I'm afraid I have to decline," she laughed.

"What happens next is your own doing," he warned her, noticing Rose pull Donna back to the staircase.

"I'll show you what happens next," she hissed. "At arms!" she ordered the robots. "Take aim! And--"

"Relax," ordered the Doctor calmly, tweaking the sonic'ed remote in his pocket.

The robots went limp.

"What did you do?" asked Donna from below.

"Guess what I've got, Donna?" he asked, pulling the remote out so that she could see it. "Pockets," he told her, reprising their earlier conversation.

"How did that fit in there?" she asked, astonished.

Rose and the Doctor answered her together. "They're bigger on the inside," they told her.

"Robo-forms are not necessary," the Empress said, interrupting their banter. "My _children_ may feast on Martian flesh."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars," the Doctor corrected her.

"Then where?" she demanded.

"My home planet is far away and long-since gone. But its name lives on. Gallifrey."

"They murdered the Racnoss!" the Empress screamed, flailing in anger.

"I warned you. You did this," he told her, producing a handful of baubles from his pocket.

"No!" screeched the Racnoss. "No! Don't! No!"

He ignored her, sending the baubles into the air, directing them into the walls, releasing the river into the chamber. He set them on automatic, leaving them to wreak plenty of devastation while the emerging Racnoss drowned under the incoming water. Leaning over the railing, he shouted to Rose and Donna, "Come on, let's go!"

The Empress wailed at his retreating back, "My children!"

The Doctor met Rose and Donna in the corridor outside, and they raced back to the ladder out of the complex.

The Empress' wailing voice followed them. "No! My children! My children!"

As they climbed the ladder up onto the flood barrier, Rose asked, "But what about the Empress?"

"She's used up all her Huon energy," the Doctor answered. "She's defenseless!"

They emerged to see a web star in the sky over London, obviously the Empress' ship. But it came under fire from ground units, and burst into flame, disintegrating. They all cheered in relief, and the Doctor got a wonderful hug from Rose.

"Just," said Donna, catching her breath, "there's one problem."

"What's that?" the Doctor asked.

**"**We've _drained_ the _Thames_!" she said.

--

To be continued.


	8. Invitations

Chapter 8, Invitations

Once the waters had receded from the underground complex, the Doctor, Rose, and Donna climbed back down into the corridor, looking for the TARDIS.

"It's not gonna be flooded out or anythin', right?" asked Donna as they approached the ship.

The Doctor patted the frame affectionately as he opened the doors. "The TARDIS? Naw, she'll be alright," he said, ushering the ladies in ahead of him. "So, where to?" he asked Donna, as she and Rose took their seats.

"Home," Donna said with a sigh, then gave him the address.

--

They exited the ship, the Doctor pleased to note that the TARDIS had materialized in just the right location, across the street from Donna's parents' house. "There we go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything," he annouced proudly.

**"**More than I've done," muttered Donna.

The Doctor scanned her with the sonic screwdriver, gauging the effects of the Huon energy. "Nope!" he told her happily. "All the Huon particles have gone. No damage; you're fine."

"Yeah, but apart from that," she said, "I missed my weddin', lost my job, and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."

"I couldn't save him," the Doctor told her.

**"**He deserved it," retorted Donna, dismissively.

**"**You don't mean that," said Rose.

"No, he didn't," agreed Donna. She looked over at her parents' house. "I'd better get inside," she told them. "They'll be worried"

The Doctor smiled. "Best Christmas present they could have."

Donna shook her head. "I really think I hate Christmas," she said.

The Doctor thought a moment, then reached up to work some hidden switches on the TARDIS. "Even if it snows?" he asked, innocently.

Rose and Donna laughed with delight as a fireworks shower of snowflakes fell around them.

Rose playfully slapped him on the arm. "I can't believe you did that!" she yelled.

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation," he casually explained with a grin.

"Loony, you are, the pair of you," laughed Donna. "Merry Christmas."

"And you," said the Doctor.

"So . . . what will you do with yourself now?" Rose asked Donna.

"Not gettin' married, for starters," she said. "And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno, travel . . . see a bit more of planet earth . . . walk in the dust. Just . . . go out there and _do _somethin'."

"Well," said the Doctor at Rose's encouraging smile, "you could always . . . ."

**"**What?" Donna asked.

"Come with us?" Rose finished for him.

Donna smiled. "No," she said.

**"**Well, we asked," said the Doctor to Rose.

"No, but really," continued Donna, "everythin' we did today--do you live your lives like that?"

"Not all the time," defended the Doctor.

"I think you do," Donna contradicted him. "And I couldn't."

"You might think that now," said Rose, "but I used to be like you. I was just a girl who worked in a shop before the Doctor came along. And you've seen it out there. It's beautiful."

"And it's terrible," Donna put in. "That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you," she pointed at the Doctor, "were stood there like . . . I don't know. A stranger, passing judgment. And then you made it snow! I mean, you scare me to death!"

The Doctor was a bit taken aback at that; he always was when people didn't understand his life the way Rose did. "Well then," he said after a moment.

"Tell you what I will do, though," offered Donna, lightening the mood. "Christmas dinner." The Doctor winced. "Oh, come on," she pleaded.

"I don't do that sort of thing," he said.

"You did it last year," put in Rose, squeezing his hand.

"Ha!" exclaimed Donna. "Thank you, Rose. And you might as well, because Mum always cooks enough for twenty."

The Doctor looked between Donna and Rose, and knew he'd been beaten. "Oh, all right then," he conceded. "But you go first; better warn them. And . . . don't say I'm a Martian?"

Donna went on ahead, as the Doctor locked up the TARDIS. Then, hand in hand, Rose and the Doctor followed after her.

--

After a very satisfying dinner, Donna said her goodbyes to Rose and the Doctor outside of the TARDIS. A few hugs and exchanged mobile numbers later, Donna had gone her way, and the TARDIS was once again floating in the vortex.

Rose thought the Doctor was unusually quiet. She was just about to ask, when he spoke.

"I'm sorry," said the Doctor quietly from his place at the console.

"For what?" Rose asked him.

"That we were having Christmas dinner with Donna--"

"Donna's great!" she said. "I'm really hopin' she changes her mind about comin' with us, someday."

"I mean," said the Doctor, uncomfortably, "that we were with her family, rather than yours."

Ah. So that's it, huh? He was still blaming himself. Well, we can put a stop to this. "Did you, or did you not, try to send me to Pete's world with Mum in the first place?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," he said, meekly, hand on neck.

"You should be, but not the issue right now," Rose told him. "Did you, or did you not, harness a super nova just to let me say goodbye through the very last gap between our universes?"

"I suppose--" he began, but she cut him off.

"And did I, or did I not, tell you that I've made my choice, and you're it?" she asked, with a pronounced poke at his arm.

"You did," he said, looking right at her.

"Okay," said Rose, suddenly a bit uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "Done with the guilt complex?"

A moment's pause, then, "Done."

"Alright."

He still looked like something was bothering him, but this time Rose didn't need to wheedle it out of him. "But speaking of your Mum," he said at last, "what's so funny about me getting slapped?"

Okay, not what she'd expected.

"Did you laugh when she slapped me, too, or just Donna? Only I couldn't tell because my head was ringing."

Rose bit her lip as she answered, "Well, let's just say I've wanted to shut you up a few times myself."

"You've never slapped me!"

Rose blushed. No, slapping hadn't occurred to her, and she'd been too chicken to act on the first thing that had come mind.

To her horror, the Doctor seemed to read her thoughts on her face. He grinned. "How have you wanted to shut me up?" he asked.

"Badly," Rose evaded, refusing to inflate his ego.

He ignored the comment, and stepped closer, feigning innocence. "We established early on that I've got quite a gob," he said, hands in pockets, slowly but steadily advancing. "And I admit I can get going when faced with insolent invaders, threatening the annihilation of peaceful worlds; arrogant, thick-headed, single-minded destroyers, dooming desperate denizens to desolation . . . ."

He was getting into his groove, she could tell. The alliteration always came out when he was on a roll.

"Or, like earlier with Donna, trying to solve a mysterious occurrence that by all rights should not ever have occurred, running through the possibilities, trying to hit upon the one clue that will reveal the truth . . . .

"Or," he continued, moving even closer, so that Rose began to retreat backwards, "I suppose I can get a bit carried away by discovering the solution to a problem with the TARDIS' systems . . . ."

No, thought Rose, biting her lip. Not the technobabble. Anything but the technobabble!

But he did. He intentionally launched into a long and complicated spiel, detailing his most recent exploits with something-or-other spanners, whatsit-doohickey temporal modulators, intra-dimensional thingamabobs, and on, and on, and on--

And she gave up.

Rose grabbed him by the hair, and pulled his mouth down to hers.

She really would have let him go once he was quiet, but by then the Doctor was quite enjoying himself, so who was she to deny--oh, who was she kidding? He'd won. He'd gotten her to give in. But as she tangled her fingers more deeply in his hair, pulling slightly even as she held him more closely to her, eliciting a moan from him that had nothing to do with pain, she knew she couldn't care in the least.

--

The end.

Up next, "The Smiths and Miss Jones" :)


End file.
